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Cognoscenti

Ideas and opinions presented by WBUR, Boston’s NPR® News Station.

cognoscenti /kɒgnəˈʃɛnti/ pl. noun/ people who are especially well informed about a particular subject. Origin: late 18th century: Italian, literally ‘people who know,’ from Latin cognoscent-, ‘getting to know’

It is hard to imagine a more counterproductive thing for a sexual harassment policy to do than to make it harder for us to discuss, teach, debate and improve sexual harassment policy – but that is what the university policy threatens to do.

A video called “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman” isn’t just the hottest viral sensation. It’s a snapshot of what tens of millions of women experience day after day, week after week, year after year.

Once relegated — literally — to the sidelines, or stuck in support roles, serving as warm-up acts for male analysts, female sports journalists today are recognized for their knowledge and opinions about the teams and the players they cover.

Understanding that womanhood is not static has inspired two women’s colleges to change their admissions criteria to consider anyone who identifies as a woman, regardless of their assigned sex at birth.

While the public is confused about why Janay has rushed to [Rice’s] defense and minimized the abuse that we all witnessed on that video, the outrage should be directed at the systems that failed her and all victims.

It is hard to imagine a more counterproductive thing for a sexual harassment policy to do than to make it harder for us to discuss, teach, debate and improve sexual harassment policy – but that is what the university policy threatens to do.

Once relegated — literally — to the sidelines, or stuck in support roles, serving as warm-up acts for male analysts, female sports journalists today are recognized for their knowledge and opinions about the teams and the players they cover.

Pop superstar Katy Perry becomes the latest young woman to carefully pre-qualify a feminist statement with a disavowal of the label itself. Why are so many women reluctant to embrace the feminist mantle?